Computational methods have been developed for modeling fire spread smoke transport and path for usages such as, for example, studies of fire dynamics, development of emergency procedures in advance of emergency situation, and so forth. Regional monitoring systems such as, for example, fire detection and monitoring systems, are increasingly being required for implementation in multi-story buildings. Such systems can provide information related to fire conditions on various floors or regions of a multi-story building. The information can be coupled to a fire alarm control unit, which may be located in, for example, a lobby area or other easily accessible area so as to be readily available to a first responder.
Currently, several fire and smoke modeling and path prediction methods based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data have been implemented as a result of traditional off-line modeling of fire spread and smoke transport. Such approaches are capable of predicting the fire and smoke propagation paths. Information can then be transmitted as input data to an evacuation route planning program. Such methods, however, are usually not suitable for real-time applications in a fire scene and can effectively impact and facilitate the emergency planning and development of evacuation routes in a later emergency situation.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved real time smoke propagation system and method. A need also exist for modeling a three-dimensional smoke propagation animation to visualize a real-time fire and smoke propagation and to facilitate emergency planning, as described in greater detail herein.